northwest studio

Dolphin Bay House

A shoreline house designed as a horizontal counterpoint to the verticality of a densely forested site.

Location

Orcas Island, Washington

Client

Private

Project

Residential, Interiors

Set along the shoreline of East Sound on Orcas Island, this house is organized to reside between the undulating ground and the verticality of the peninsula’s trees. The site is dense with tall trunks and narrow views opening south toward the water. The design takes a horizontal stance, holding low and long against the vertical forest. It is positioned parallel to the contours of the land, allowing the building to settle into the slope. From a distance, the house reads as a quiet line through the trees—present but held back.

The lower level is formed from rockery stone, matching the native shoreline and outcroppings found across the site. The main level is constructed from a series of modular components, fabricated off-site and clad in rhythmic fiber cement siding painted a deep green. In the shade of the forest, the building recedes, allowing filtered light, columnar trunks, and a verdant understory to remain dominant. Rows of windows open the house to south-facing views of East Sound, while smaller openings are placed to frame near-field views within the site. The roof is planted, softening its presence when seen and approached from the ridge above.

The project works by staying low, by matching material to place, and by letting the forest set the terms. It is a horizontal counterpoint to this vertical landscape, grounded in the site and tuned to its light, its slope, and its position at the waters edge.